KEMS Photobook - Page Text Content

1: This book is made in honor of Katie Evans, and dedicated to her loving family who enabled me to carry on her legacy of service to the global community. Thank you for opening doors of opportunity for me.

2: My first weeks were spent engaging in the culture, making friends, and earning trust.

4: My role with Africa 180 was to initiate a hygiene and health education program for the caretakers of children enrolled in the Makomborero Nutrition Program. After planning and preparing the curriculum and posters, Dorca and I began teaching on the porch of the clinic.

5: Dorca, an assistant in the clinic, learned the lessons as she translated for me and excelled as a teacher. She presented the material in a way that was culturally appropriate, relevant, and understandable to the course participants. She advised me in the design of the education program.

6: Dorca earned a Certificate of Training for the Mavambo Upenyu Wakakwana (Foundations of Abundant Life) Hygiene & Health Education Program, and was promoted to Supervisor of Health Education.

7: In the last block of teaching, course participants received the award of a bar of soap. | Two sets of demonstration materials and teaching handbooks were assembled for future courses taught by Community Health Educators (CHEs).

8: Dorca taught the curriculum to women of a local church and to the parents of the students at Africa 180's preschool, while training new CHEs. Dorca presented a certificate to Victoria, her first trainee. Since then, 3 additional CHE's have been certified and deployed.

10: In my spare time, I started a women's group with the mothers of the preschool students. The group was named Simba Madzimai, or Powerful Mothers, and a president and vice president were appointed. | The purpose of the group is to empower each other by sharing our own special skills and talents.

11: I shared my knowledge about the world: its orbit and rotation, the seasons and days, its geography, the diversity, and the cultures. They shared their songs and dances, which I recorded and played for them on my laptop.

12: Together, we commissioned a local pot maker to teach us how to make clay pots by harvesting and preparing the clay, forming and smoothing the sides, creating a bottom, and firing it. Unfortunately, some of the pots didn't survive the firing process.

13: It was important to me to emphasize that much can be accomplished by employing the available resources, material and human, to give hope and determination that every problem has a solution. When the women of Simba Madzimai wanted to share the skill of crocheting but complained they didn't have crochet hooks, I took the opportunity to demonstrate this principle. I carved a functional crochet hook from a local wood and taught them how to do it with the resources they have. Several of the women made their own hooks!

14: This is a project I completed in the clinic for the manager of the Makomborero Nutrition Program. The Bible verse is "John 10:10 Jesus said, 'I have come to give life, and to give it abundantly.'"

15: These are two wind chimes that I made. The one on the left is called "Beauty from Ashes". The pieces are sharp, dangerous glass and other objects that were procured from the Africa 180 grounds. Africa 180 originally bought the property to prevent the establishment of a truck stop. The one on the right is called "All things work together". The pieces are spare parts from the Africa 180 tool room. These were left in Mozambique.

16: Beautiful | Beautiful | Beautiful

17: Children | Children

18: This experience was beyond expectation. I learned and accomplished much in my four months in Mozambique. It has built upon the foundation of my purpose and desires, and compelled me to continue working towards empowering communities to live healthier, happier lives.

19: For more information about my experience with these projects, and to download the formal reports, please visit leevani1.wordpress.com.